Twelve Days The Beginning

Chapter Twelve

Elise raced out of the club; pushing through anyone and everything in her way, barely aware of what she was doing and knowing only that she needed to get out of there, find her car and get the hell home. This, whatever this was, was complete and utter madness and for a moment there she had almost lost all sense of perspective. Who knew what the other girls had seen and what they would make of it – particularly Olivia, who she understood to have firsthand knowledge of Vaughn’s charms.

She had no idea why he seemed intent on pursuing her. Maybe it was the thrill of the chase and the fact that she was unavailable which added to the spice? Who knew? She didn’t care anymore and was done trying to work anything out. As soon as Dale was home from hospital, she was going to help him to work through his issues and then hopefully they could carry on their lives as if the last few days had never happened.

She reached the car park and typed a quick text to Celeste to let her know that she had headed home early, claiming she wasn’t feeling well. Hopefully the other girl would be able to get a lift back with the others and wouldn’t be too upset at Elise for bailing out on her. She sighed. Just another situation to smooth over on Monday.

Reaching her car, she was about to put the key in the lock when a shout reached her from across the car park.

“Elise! Wait! Please...!”

She turned to see Vaughn sprinting across the car park towards her, hastily shrugging into his jacket with keys and phone dangling in his hand. His long strides ate up the distance to her in no time and she found herself sucking in a breath as she took in his appearance. He was wearing dark casual jeans and a fitted top along with a leather jacket and lightweight boots. He was, quite simply, devastating and she had to force herself to remain where she was – the temptation to run and throw herself into his arms was overwhelming.

She waited for him to reach her. Devastating as he was, she didn’t really want to talk to him but she recognised that this ‘thing’ between them needed to be aired and then put to bed once and for all. It was the only way that she could ever see life resuming and reverting back to any semblance of normality.

“Elise! Look...- I’m sorry – really.” By now he had reached her and was standing just in front of her as she leant against her car door. He was breathing heavily from running the length of the car park but he recovered quickly, indicating a level of fitness that Elise could only admire. She was fairly certain that if she had just sprinted the length of the car park, she would be in a heap on the floor and requiring medical treatment - not about to hold a serious conversation with someone.

“Things in there got out of hand, I’m sorry.” He huffed out, “Shit, Elise, I can’t see straight when you’re around – you just turn me on too damn much and I can’t seem to keep any level of control.” He paused, his eyes searching her face as if for any sign of forgiveness.



“It’s not just that though,” he continued. “I really want to spend time with you – please. Let me apologise. Let me make it up to you. How about we go for a coffee? There’s a twenty-four hour place just around the corner.”

He grinned at her and held his hands up in surrender, “I promise to keep these completely to myself.”

Elise regarded him with cautious eyes, weighing up the smart thing to do. Clearly, that would be to get in her car and drive away, to put as much distance as she could between herself and this overwhelming man, forget he ever existed and try to carry on. Unfortunately he had somehow wormed his way into her brain without her even realising it and she found herself fascinated by him, drawn to him on some level she had never experienced before. The physical attraction between them was off the scale. Maybe she needed to hear him out and work out what was going on between them. Perhaps they could talk it through like grown adults and then go their separate ways. That way they could continue to work together without any awkwardness or difficulty. Surely that would be the best resolution?

Making her decision, she nodded her head in agreement and she watched as Vaughn visibly sighed in relief.

“Thank you.” he said and gently took her hand, leading her to his car parked a few spaces away. She was surprised that he had his car here; she would have thought he would have been enjoying the ‘ambience’ like at their work do but then again, he would have to pay for the drinks here; they had been free at work. Recognising that she was having unfounded and uncharitable thoughts she pushed them to one side. It was unfair to make that kind of judgement about him, she had driven too and that had had absolutely nothing to do with the price of the drinks. Just because Dale had a problem with alcohol, didn’t mean that everyone else did.

She got into his car in silence, trying to gather her wits and brave herself for the conversation that was to follow. Vaughn got into the driver’s seat and immediately the atmosphere in the vehicle became charged, the spark between them almost visible in the dark interior. He glanced across at her and she smiled nervously at him; it would be so easy to reach across, brush her hand over his thigh and then higher, trail her fingers over his face, pull his head down to hers, seal her lips over his in a searing kiss and taste him again. She shook her head to free herself from her thoughts and turned away, grateful for the darkness of the car which hid her blush. She didn’t need Vaughn to know that her thoughts were often less than honourable when he was around; it was bad enough that her body’s reaction was a dead giveaway without her face skywriting it, for all to see.

A short, silent drive later, they arrived at the coffee shop and Elise was relieved to see that the car park was virtually empty. Although it was unlikely that she would see anyone she knew this far out of town at this time of night, it would be just her luck to run into one of her neighbours. The fact that she didn’t recognise any of the few cars parked outside was both a relief and a blessing.



Vaughn led her inside and they found a secluded table at the back – there were only three other tables occupied - all by a rowdy bunch of oblivious University students - so their entrance went virtually unnoticed.

As they sat down, a waitress approached to take their order; a large latte for Vaughn and a mug of tea for her. Although she drank coffee at work, tea was her beverage of choice - particularly at this time of night. She needed something to soothe and calm her, not something that would wire her up for the remainder of the night.

Vaughn reached across the table and grabbed one of her cold hands, rubbing it absently between his as he seemed to consider what to say. Remembering that he had promised to keep his hands to himself, she raised her eyebrow at him indicating their joined hands and he just shrugged, almost apologetically but made no move to sever the contact. Her initial reaction was to pull her hand away but the sensations running up her arm and through her body at even this slight touch were absolutely heady, so she decided to leave it where it was. Considering what others parts of her body he had touched, it seemed almost insignificant.

“Elise, look. I really am sorry about tonight. I didn’t plan this despite what you may think – it was a complete coincidence that we were both there.”

She looked at him in total disbelief. He seriously expected her to believe that? Focusing on their joined hands, she voiced her thoughts aloud.

“You seriously expect me to believe that? After all that you’ve said to me over the past few days? You must think I’m a complete idiot.” Her retort was sharper than she had meant it to be and she instantly regretted it as she registered the brief look of hurt crossing his face. Maybe he was telling the truth? How the hell would she know? Shit – she was tired, it had been a long week and everything had ceased to make sense a few days ago. Perhaps she should give him the benefit of the doubt.

“Sorry – that was uncalled for.” She relented. “It just freaks me out that every corner I seem to turn these days finds you standing on it. First you’re breaking up a fight in reception, then you’re at the hospital visiting my husband and now I find you on the dancefloor of a club that I have only ever visited tonight, for Christ’s sake. You have to forgive me for finding it slightly hard to comprehend that this whole – situation –wasn’t planned.” Although her words were harsh, she calmed her voice a little to take the edge off. It wasn’t all down to him.

Vaughn shrugged easily, “I understand why you would think that but I can assure you that it really was a coincidence that I was there tonight. I was out with Stephen to celebrate a friend’s birthday and I caught sight of you coming down the stairs to the dancefloor. You looked absolutely stunning and I couldn’t tear my eyes away. All I knew was that I had to hold you....had to feel your body pressed against me.” He paused and watched her cautiously as if waiting for a reaction.

“I got the DJ to change the track to the one that was playing the very first time I set eyes on you. I watched you that night you know. Totally and utterly caught up in the music, you were completely unaware of the effect you were having on several men - not just me. I remember thinking that I had never seen something so pure or so beautiful and I knew then that I had to get to know you.” He glanced across at her, still absently rubbing her hand between his.

“I wanted to recreate that tonight; watch you again, see you dance and be completely free. You really are incredibly beautiful. And then it got to be too much just watching, I had to feel you....touch you. I told myself that it would only be brief and then I would back off. Just one touch, just one kiss and then I would leave you be. Then you ground yourself into me and the small amount of control I was hanging onto was shredded. I’m sorry that I freaked you out Elise but I’m not sorry for touching you. I will never be sorry for that.”

Vaughn blew out a breath, leaning back as the waitress arrived with their drinks. His dark eyes had taken on a new intensity and Elise struggled to maintain any level of sanity under his gaze. What on earth did you say to a speech like that? He thought that he had freaked her out but he hadn’t – far from it. She was freaked out by the connection between them but not by him. She had bolted because she was frightened. Frightened of the depth of emotion she was beginning to feel for this man, frightened that she could feel something like this when she was married to Dale and scared witless as to where this was all going to go. If Dale ever found out about any of this, she would be taught a lesson she would never forget and she couldn’t afford for that to happen if her marriage was ever going to stand a chance.

She didn’t want Vaughn to believe that he had freaked her out though and she felt she owed him some kind of explanation. After all, she hadn’t been a completely innocent bystander and it was unfair for him to take all of the blame.

“Vaughn,” her voice was shaky, wavering slightly with the emotion that she was trying to conceal. “You didn’t freak me out – at all. That wasn’t why I bolted.” she swallowed, unsure how to continue, but she knew that she needed to be honest. She felt that she owed him that at least.

“I’m scared, Vaughn – scared for more reasons than you can possibly understand. I’ve been married for ten years and in that time I never once considered another man. And then you – you burst into my life and totally scramble my brains, making me think things that I should in no way be thinking and making me feel things that I shouldn’t be feeling. All of a sudden, I find myself thinking about another man and that is fundamentally wrong. It goes against everything that I believe in. I’m scared shitless, Vaughn; really, really scared and the irony is that you have absolutely no idea why.”

She looked up from the table and locked eyes with his, hers full of unshed tears, his full of concern and another emotion she couldn’t even begin to name. He continued to absent-mindedly rub her hand, his fingers finding their way to the underside of her wrist and stroking her there. This time she could not contain the shiver his touch produced and Vaughn sighed, a small smile playing around his mouth.

“You feel it Elise, don’t you? Tell me you feel it too and that it’s not just me going mad here?”

“Yes, Vaughn.” she allowed, finally being honest with herself “Yes, I feel it too – but it can go nowhere and I think for both our sakes, we should try to keep our distance from now on. I have more than enough going on in my life without adding any more complications to it. Maybe I should resign from the off-site team – that way we wouldn’t even need to work together. I’m a strong woman Vaughn....I’ve had to be, but there is only so much strength left right now and if I lose it, we will both end up in a situation we’ll regret.” She looked across at him, her eyes moist with the ever-present tears threatening to spill. She was an emotional wreck around this man and she wasn’t ready to delve into her psyche to find out why.

“I can promise you Elise that any situation with you would never be cause for regret.” Vaughn sighed. “I know that you are married, I know what that means to you and believe me, I am not in the habit of pursuing married women. There is something about you that draws me in though, something that I can’t explain and I find myself unable to walk away. I don’t want to walk away. I am not going to walk away. It’s as simple as that. I want to take whatever risks I need to take to be with you....however problematic that may be.”

“You hardly know me though Vaughn – why me? Why not Olivia? She’s young, beautiful and completely available and, as we know from recent evidence, not averse to your advances. Why would you want to get involved with me when you know it will never go anywhere?”

Ignoring the last part of her sentence, Vaughn instead picked up on her comments about Olivia, his eyes flaring a little with hope. “Why Miss Grayson, dare I flatter myself that I hear a slight jealousy in your voice?” he mocked.

Elise raised her eyebrows at him, effectively silencing any further comment he may have been about to make on that subject and he laughed.

“I guess I just don’t understand what it is about me that has you so compelled to potentially ruin both of our careers, my marriage and your reputation – just for a cheap roll in the hay!” she stated matter of factly.

Vaughn abruptly stopped rubbing her wrist and pulled his hands away angrily, his eyes spitting fire as they glared at her across the table. Clearly not trusting himself to speak quietly he leaned forward and hissed instead, his voice menacing and cold.

“Don’t you dare to assume that anything we may have would be cheap. Just because you haven’t been tempted in the whole time that you have been married doesn’t mean that you are unattractive. You are a young, vibrant and beautiful woman who is stuck in an unhappy relationship – a marriage that most people would have walked away from long since. I’m not an idiot, Elise; I know when I touched your hips tonight that you were in pain and I know that he did that to you. Men like that don’t deserve to be alive and they certainly do not deserve the love of a woman like you.” The depth of passion in his voice took her by surprise as he continued to hiss across the table.

“I do not agree with cheating and nor do I agree with breaking up a marriage but I am damned if I will stand by, even as a friend, and watch you being used as a human punch-bag just because you lack the courage to face up to reality and get the hell out of there!”

Elise couldn’t speak. Her throat had dried up and all coherent thought had fled at the sheer level of anger on Vaughn’s face. She had seen Cole like this once or twice when he had been patching her up but for some reason on Vaughn it seemed much more deadly. She could deny it, pretend that she didn’t know what he was talking about but that would just be pointless. He knew – and he still wanted to spend time with her. There was no point in prettying anything up for him.

Nervously she took a sip of her tea, her fingers shaking, making it difficult to get the mug to her mouth.

“How.....” she whispered, “how did you know?”

“I...” for a brief moment a look of pain flitted across his face and then it was gone, replaced by a look of calm concern.

“I heard most of what your husband said in the office the other day and it didn’t take a genius to work out the rest. To see Cole lay into your husband like that was unexpected and I spent a good while that evening trying to piece it all together. Why would someone as calm as Cole go off the deep end like that? There must have been a really good reason. From then on, I had my suspicions but it wasn’t until tonight when I touched your hips that I knew for certain.” He looked across at her and locked his eyes onto hers.

“How long, Elise? How long has this been going on?” he asked gently, taking both her hands this time and holding them steady in his warm grip, trying to stop the incessant shaking.

“I.....” she paused, hung her head, ashamed to admit to just how long she had suffered at the hands of her husband. Tenderly, Vaughn put a finger under her chin and lifted it so that their eyes could connect again.

“How long?” he prompted softly, his eyes never once leaving hers.

“Five years on and off” she whispered, her voice barely audible. ”Five long years.”